Selecting mechanism.



C. BUTTERPIELD.'

SELEGTING MEGHANISM.

` APPLIQATIDN FILED uml 15, 190s.

Patented Feb. 14," 1911.

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C. BUTTERFIELD. SELEGTING MEOHANISM.

APPLIOATION IVILED 11.111,15, 1909.

Patented Feb.14,1911.

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`UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEroE.

CHARLES BUTTERFIELI), OF NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND.

SELEGTING MECHANISM.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 14, 1911.

Application filed March 15, 1909. Serial No. 483,549.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES BUTTEREIELD, a Subj ect of the King of GreatBritain, and

a resident of Nottingham, England, have* invented new and usefulImprovements in Selecting Mechanism, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention has for its object the provision of improved means bywhich a sheet of paper, a card, an envelop or the like may be selectedfrom a number and moved into such a position that it can be readilydealt with by the workman or be seized or engaged by automatic feedingmechanism, the said invention being particularly suitable for use inconnection with printing machines, ruling machines, folding machines andother similar machines in which sheets, cards or the like have to bedealt with separately.

In the accompanying drawings z-Figure 1. is a side elevation of theimproved mechanism as used for sheets of paper. Fig. 2. is adiagrammatic plan of an arrangement for dealing withtwo sheets at thesame time. Fig.' 3. is a-plan of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4.is a sectional plan on the line A. A. Fig. 1. F ig. 5. is a frontelevation of the mechanism as arranged for dealing with envelops, Vcardsand the like, and Fig. 6. is a sectional elevation on the line B. B.Fig. 5.

The improved mechanism is provided with a pad 1 which may be made of thesame composition as that `used for the ink distributing rollers ofprinting machines. This pad is cast on, or .otherwise attached, to aplate 2 on the end of a spindle 3 which has a bearing in the end of anarm 4 and is held from end movement in such bearing. The upper lpart ofthe spindle is fitted to slide in a pulley 5 but is prevented fromturning in such pulley While the pulley has bearings 6 in an arm 7 whichis connected to the frame piecev 8. In the arrangement shown the pulleyis rotated continuously by a cord 9 from a pulley 10 on the shaft 11,and such shaft may be any suitable shaft in the machine to which themechanism is applied or it may be a shaft drivenV from the machine. Thearm 4 carrying the selecting pad 1 is attached to a rack slide 12 whichis fitted to slide in uides 13 carried by the frame piece 8 and 1sraised after each sheet has been selectedby a pawl 14 on a lever 15which is actuated by a cam 16 on the shaft 11. The lower'end of the pawl14 is held by a spring 56 in contact with the cam shaped edge 57 of thelever 17 which lever is so shaped that as the pawl 14 moves down it isdisengaged from the slide and the pad 1 is thus left free to descend asthe height of the pile of sheets 18 on the table 19 is lowered by theremoval of the sheets. pawl 2O provided with a pin 58 which is normallyheld by the spring 21 in contact with the upper end of the lever 17 andthis lever is held by a spring 22 in Contact with a lever 23 mounted onan axle 24 and connected by a lever 25 to a crank pin 26 which is workedfrom the throw out mechanism of the machine to which the selectingmechanism is fitted, and these parts are so arranged. that when thethrow out mecha nism is operated the pawl 20 falls into gear with therack slide and holds the pad clear of the sheets 18 and the pawl 14 isheld outof rovided with gear. The mechanism is also inoperative.

means by which it is rendere Such mechanism consists of a lever 27 whichcan b-e moved under the arm 4, the lower end of the spindle carrying thelever 27 being cranked, as at 2S, so that when the lever 27 is movedunder the arm 4, the crank 28 comes into contact with pins 59 and 60carried by the p-awls 14 and 20, respectively, and moves these pawlsclear of the rack slide 12, holding them in that position.

The table 19 is provided with three upright rods 29, 30 and 31 whichserve as guides for xing the sheets on the table and also assist in theseparation of the top sheet from the one below. The rod 29 is carried bya lever 32 which is ivotally mounted on a bracket 33 and provided with ascrew 34 for fixing it in position while the bracket 33 is fitted toslide in a groove in the edge of the table and can be fixed in anyposition by a nut 35. The rod 31 is carried by a lever 36 which isp-ivotally mounted at 37 to the frame 8 and the rod 30 is carried by alever 38 which is pivoted to the lever 36, and both levers are providedwith nuts 61 or equivalent means or fixing them in their placedpositions. e

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 2 the arm 7 is divided to carry thebearings for the vertical shafts of two pads and is provided with guidepulleys 39 by which the cord 9 is guided to drive both pads in the samedirection.- In this arrangement the pads are carried by an arm 4 whichis of There is also a retainingthe same shape in plan as the arm 7represented in Fig. 2, and is moved vertically in the same way as thecorresponding arm 4 shown in Fig. 1.

In vthe arrangement shown in Figs. 5 and 6 the selecting mechanism isshown as used for the selecting of cards, envelops and like articles andthe drawings illustrate how the mechanism is arranged for thesimultaneous selection of two articles. The selecting pads 1 are mountedon spindles 40 which have bearings 41 carried by a lever o-r slide whichis moved to and from the end of the chutes 42 by suitable mechanism. Thetwo spindles are geared together by toothed wheels 43 which areconnected to the spindles by feather or spline and key way connectionsto allow of the spindles sliding relative to the wheels. Attached to oneof the spindles is a driving pulley 44. The spindles are thus positivelyrotated and can also slide in their bearings, as in the constructionillustrated in Fig. 1 and already described, but are normally held intheir forward positions by springs 45, instead of by the force ofgravity, as in the Fig. 1 construction. The articles to beselected areplaced in the inclined chute 42, or its equivalent, and by their weightthe end article is held in contact with a plate 46 which is adjustablymounted on studs 47, 48 so that its distance from the end of the chutecan be varied. The ends of the chute are made with projecting pieces 49and 50 and a lug 51 which projects slightly beyond the plate 46 to allowof the end article falling into the dot-v ted line position 5.2 andthere is a rotating brush 53 by which the article at the lower end ofthe chute is brushed forward up to the plate 46 and into such a positionthat the end article falls into the position 52 and.

rests in contact with the lug 51 and the pin 4S.

The selecting pad is preferably made of the same composition as is usedfor the ink distributing rollers ofpa printing machine,'

sheets to be selected are placed on the table v uides 29, 30 and 31adjusted. The mechanism is then put in motion and 19 and the the padv 1is lowered on to the top sheet and as soon as the friction between thepad and top sheet is greater than the friction between two sheets, thetop sheet is gradually turned to the position 54 Fig. 3 the corners ofthe sheet being turned upward as they pass the guides 29 and 31, andshould there be any tendency for two or more sheets to adhere togetherthe rubbing -of the edges of thev sheets on the pins 29 and 31 tends toseparate them and allow of the top sheet being I moved to the desiredposition. When the mechanism is used for the selection of cards andthick sheets the guide pins are so inclined that they offer a minimumresistance to the turning of the card or sheet and so that the edges ofthe card or sheet can slide up the pins. With the apparatus shown inFigs. 5 and G the end article falls into the position 52 and the pad,which is opposite a corner of the sheet, is brought into contact withthe lowest corner of the article and turns it from the position 52 tothe position 55.

The position to which the selected sheet or other article is turneddepends upon the length of time the pad is in Contact with the sheet orother article and this time may be varied according to the purpose forwhich the mechanism is used. If used for hand feeding it is suiiicientto turn the sheet or other article into a position in which it can beeasily taken holdof by the operator, but if used in connection with an Aautomatic feeding mechanism the sheet or other article would be turneduntil it could be seized by the feeding grippers or fall into a positionto llof carried forward by tapes, bands or the What I claim in mechanismfor selecting and turning sheets of paper, envelope cards and the like,is

1. The combination of a selecting pad, an aXle carrying the said pad, apulley rotating in Xed bearings and turning the pad, an arm carrying thepad axle, a slide provided with ratchet teeth connected with the saidarm, reciprocating mechanism for moving the said slide having a pawlarranged to engage with the ratchet teeth thereof, and

means for periodically throwing the pawl 1 adapted to be connected withthrow-out mechanism for operating the said slide-diseng-aging mechanism.

3. The combination of a plurality of independent selecting pads havingflat faces adapted to operate respectively upon arti-cles arranged intwo independent stacks, an arm Supporting and carrying both of the pads,l adapted to engage with the slide, a retain means for moving the padssimultaneously toward and from the articles on Whichthey operate, andmeansl for simultaneously rotating the said independent pads wherebyeach selects the article with Which it engages from the stack in whichit Was placed, snb stantially as set forth.

4;. The combination of a selecting pad, a slide carrying the same,mechanism for moving the slide vertically having a lifting pawl ingpawl, also adapted to engage With the slide, and a lever for holding thepad ont of action, a crank arranged to throw out of 15 action theactuating pawl and the retaining pawl substantially as herein Set forth.

CHARLES BUTTERFIELD.

Witnesses:

VILLIAM H. POTTER, NATHANIEL WV. NEED.

Itis hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 984,417, grantedFebruary 14,

1911, upon the application of Charles Butterfield, of Nottingham,England, for an improvement in Selecting Mechanism, an error appears inthc printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 3, line15, before the Words a crank thc Words provided with should be inserted;and that the said Letters Patent sho nld be read with thin` correctiontherein that the same may conform to the record of the case in thePatent Ofce.

Signed and sealed this 14th day of March, A. D., 1911.

[SEAL] E. Moonn,

mmz'sszoner of Patents.

